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Documentation toolkit info card: videos
A video is a documentation and communication product that records - in sound and moving images - an organisation's activities during a period of time.
A video:
- Uses moving images as the main means of documentation, with commentary to provide explanations.
- Can document events (such as a meeting or workshop) or ongoing stories (such as the development of a project).
- Can be produced by an individual, a community or an organisation.
- Is a particularly useful tool for people with a low level of literacy.
- Requires technical resources (including a video recorder, television and electricity supply) to use it.
Can be for internal use (for example to document a training course) or external use (for example to raise funds from a donor).
Key questions
Key questions to ask before developing a video are:
? Is a video the right product for you or your organisation? What are the pros and cons of it compared to other products - such as reports or photo-story books?
? How professional do you want it to look? Do you have enough ideas, skills and budget to meet that standard?
? Who will actually make the video? Who will provide the equipment and experience? Who will take the editorial decisions?
Structure and content
These pages show an example of part of a structure and content outline for a video about a community care and support project for people living with HIV/AIDS. The outline shows what the product will contain and in what order. The boxes around it provide some key "dos and don'ts" about how to make a video as effective as possible.
Title sequence • Title of video and opening credits. (Music.)
DO start with a strong title sequence - that clearly shows what the video is about and kind of information it will include.
DON'T forget to give credit to those who appeared in the video, produced it and funded it.
Opening sequence
• Variety of shots of village life. (Narrative introducing the theme of HIV/AIDS and the village context.)
Sequence 1
• Long-distance shot of Tapira walking through the village. (Narrative introducing the first key point - that people can live positively with HIV/AIDS.)
• Shot zooming into a close-up of Tapira's face. (Narrative introducing Tapira, her background and her HIV status.)
• Head and shoulders shot of Tapira. (Interview with Tapira talking about living positively with HIV/AIDS.)
• Variety of shots of Tapira going about village life. (Narrative wrapping up first key point and introducing second key point - that people need support to be able to live positively with HIV/AIDS.)
Sequence 2 Etc., etc.
DO keep the structure of your video simple - so that the audience can follow it easily and they don't lose the key messages.
DO include information about what music, graphics and sound effects to use as well as what shots you want to take.
DO make sure that your visual shots and your audio tape complement each other.
DO make sure that you have permission from the people that appear in the video.
DO plan how the different sections will link together.
Style
This page looks at the style of videos - meaning how they are designed. It provides some ideas about how to make them as interesting and attractive as possible.
Make your video interesting by using different types of shots (filming). For example, use a combination of lengths of shots (such as short, medium and long) and viewpoints (such as filming from above/below, front/back, and distant/close- up).
Keep an appropriate pace throughout your video. For example, consider the different effects created by moving from one shot to another at a quick or slow pace.
Keep the style of everything in your video consistent, including the filming, music and text.
Ensure your video flows smoothly. For example avoid "jarring cuts" (when an action is edited before it has finished), but include "cut-away" shots (which show something relevant to the subject and provide a way to end one scene and move to another).
Ensure that the style of your packaging and marketing materials match the style of your video. For example, the Ndola Catholic Diocese in Zambia used the video box to show that video is about community-based work and that it complements a booklet they have written on the same theme. From: "Under the Mupundu Tree" video, Strategies for Hope, ActionAid, 1999.
Source: Documenting and communicating HIV/AIDS work
This is an extract from Documenting and communicating HIV/AIDS work: a toolkit to support NGOs/CBOs, published by the International HIV/AIDS
Alliance in October 2001.
To view the whole toolkit follow this link.
To download this card and three others, complete with graphics, in pdf format (which requires Adobe Acrobat software to read it) follow this link (file size 482kb).